Dietary Inulin Increases Lactiplantibacillus plantarum Strain Lp900 Persistence in Rats Depending on the Dietary-Calcium Level

Abstract

Synbiotics are food supplements that combine probiotics and prebiotics to synergistically elicit health benefits in the consumer. Lactiplantibacillus plantarum strains display high survival during transit through the mammalian gastrointestinal tract and were shown to have health-promoting properties. Growth on the fructose polysaccharide inulin is relatively uncommon in L. plantarum, and in this study we describe the plasmid-encoded β-fructosidase (FosE) with inulin hydrolyzing properties of L. plantarum strain Lp900. FosE contains an LPxTG-like motif involved in sortase-dependent cell-wall anchoring, but is also (partially) released in the culture supernatant. Additionally, we examined the effect of diet supplementation with inulin on the intestinal persistence of Lp900 in adult male Wistar rats in diets with distinct calcium levels. Inulin supplementation in high dietary calcium diets significantly increased the intestinal persistence of L. plantarum Lp900, whereas this effect was not observed upon inulin supplementation of the low-calcium diet. Moreover, intestinal persistence of L. plantarum Lp900 was determined when provided as a probiotic (by itself) or as a synbiotic (i.e., in an inulin suspension) in rats that were fed un-supplemented diets containing the different calcium levels, revealing that the synbiotic administration increased bacterial survival and led to higher abundance of L. plantarum Lp900 in rats, particularly in the low calcium diet context. Our findings demonstrate that inulin supplementation can significantly enhance the intestinal delivery of L. plantarum Lp900, but that this effect strongly depends on calcium levels in the diet. IMPORTANCE Synbiotics combine probiotics with prebiotics to synergistically elicit a health benefit in the consumer. Previous studies have shown that prebiotics can selectively stimulate the growth in the intestine of specific bacterial strains. In synbiotic supplementations the prebiotics constituent could increase the intestinal persistence and survival of accompanying probiotic strain(s) and/or modulate the endogenous host microbiota to contribute to the synergistic enhancement of the health-promoting effects of the synbiotic constituents. Our study establishes a profound effect of dietary calcium-dependent inulin supplementation on the intestinal persistence of inulin-utilizing L. plantarum Lp900 in rats. We also show that in rats on a low dietary calcium regime, the survival and intestinal abundance of L. plantarum Lp900 is significantly increased by administering it as an inulin-containing synbiotic. This study demonstrates that prebiotics can enhance the intestinal delivery of specific probiotics, and that the prebiotic effect is profoundly influenced by the calcium content of the diet.

Modulation of Gut Microbiota for the Prevention and Treatment of COVID-19

“…In a mouse colitis model, Son et al (2019) showed that a synbiotic composed of Lactobaccillus GG and tagatose was superior to Lactobaccillus GG and tagatose alone in inhibiting inflammatory responses [62]. Fuhren et al (2021) showed that inulin increased the intestinal persistence of inulin consuming bacterium L. plantarum Lp900 contained in the synbiotic [63]. Studies also showed that the synbiotic Bacillus coagulans MTCC5856 and sugarcane fiber produced more profound effects than B. coagulans and sugarcane fiber alone in inhibiting inflammation and producing SCFAs in a colitis model [64,65].…”

Prebiotic utilisation provides Lactiplantibacillus plantarum a competitive advantage in vitro , but is not reflected by an increased intestinal fitness

“…Previously, we have shown that dietary inulin significantly increases intestinal persistence of inulin-utilizing Lactiplantibacillus plantarum Lp900 when administered in a high calcium diet context. 12 Inulin utilization by L. plantarum Lp900 is driven by extracellular degradation of this substrate, which may compromise the competitive advantage of this capacity by “hitchhiking” of other species or strains that are equally efficient in utilizing the released breakdown products (i.e., predominantly fructose monosaccharides; Supplemental Figure SF1). 13 In contrast, we have previously shown that the variable utilization of GOS (i.e., DP2 versus DP3–4 (HDP) GOS) by L. plantarum strains depends on the strain-specific HDP-GOS-import capacity followed by intracellular metabolization of these substrates, 14 which eliminates the “hitchhiking” possibility for competing strains (Supplemental Figure SF2).…”

Preparation of synbiotic milk powder and its effect on calcium absorption and the bone microstructure in calcium deficient mice

“…18 When probiotics and prebiotics are combined together into synbiotics, they work together in synergy to provide a better effect compared to that achieved when probiotics or prebiotics are administered alone. 19,20 Studies have found that synbiotics can regulate the gut microbiota, which contributes to a healthy intestine environment and enhances nutrient absorption in the body. [21][22][23] Rodrigues showed that synbiotics help increase bone mineral concentrations, thereby preventing osteoporosis.…”

“…Prebiotics have been shown to increase the abundance of Lactobacillus plantarum and improve the intestinal calcium absorption under the conditions of a low-calcium diet. 19 Prebiotics are used in high-calcium foods to improve the performance of probiotics and reduce the risk of osteoporosis in the elderly. 27,28 With the aim of developing a dietary calcium product that can supplement calcium in an efficient manner, this study combined prebiotics with probiotics and added them to normal milk powder to prepare a new type of milk powder product with additional benefits.…”

“…Prebiotics have been shown to increase the abundance of Lactobacillus plantarum and improve the intestinal calcium absorption under the conditions of a low-calcium diet. 19…”